BC-NC–North Carolina News Digest, NC

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TOP STORIES:

DOUBLE MURDER-INVESTIGATIVE MISCONDUCT

DURHAM — A North Carolina man was wrongly convicted of killing a woman and her daughter two decades ago in part because jurors didn’t know about DNA evidence that implicated another man, defense attorneys said Monday. Lawyers for Darryl Howard, who has been in prison for 21 years, told a judge that he deserves a new trial because of new DNA evidence and misconduct by police and prosecutors, including ex-district attorney Mike Nifong, who was disbarred and jailed for his handling of the Duke University lacrosse case. By Emery P. Dalesio. SENT: 610 words.

FIGHTING DEPORTATION-NORTH CAROLINA

DURHAM — Wildin Acosta had grabbed his book bag and left the house, and was just about to get in his car to drive to school in January when two men approached him. They asked his name, then flashed their badges and informed the high school senior he was under arrest for being in the United States illegally. The native Honduran who had fled his country to escape a gang member’s death threat ended up being confined for more than half a year in an immigration detention center 500 miles away from his North Carolina home. By Martha Waggoner. SENT: 610 words, AP Photo NCMW101.

NONPARTISAN REDISTRICTING

RALEIGH — An exercise to draw North Carolina’s congressional boundaries while bypassing political data hopefully will increase interest in “nonpartisan” redistricting and avoid extensive future litigation seen for decades over challenged maps, former state jurists said Monday. Former state Supreme Court chief justices and other judges from both parties unveiled the districts they drew for North Carolina’s 13 seats in the U.S. House using basic population numbers and other guidelines laid out in proposed legislation. By Gary D. Robertson. SENT: 560 words.

TROPICAL WEATHER

RODANTHE — Business owners, beachgoers, and boat captains on North Carolina’s Outer Banks were warily watching tropical weather Monday that could rain out one of the last busy weeks of the summer. The first system was expected to become a tropical storm before brushing the North Carolina coast Tuesday, bringing heavy rain and high winds to barrier islands popular for serene beaches. Another tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico could hit northern Florida as a tropical storm later in the week and then move up the Atlantic coast toward North Carolina, though its exact path was uncertain days in advance. By Ben Finley And Jonathan Drew. SENT: 720 words, AP Photo NY4C.

— With:

— TROPICAL WEATHER-NORTH CAROLINA.

LGBT RIGHTS-NORTH CAROLINA

RALEIGH — Advocacy groups said Monday they will ask an appeals court to expand a favorable ruling on transgender restroom access to cover people across North Carolina. They filed their notice of appeal after a federal judge’s preliminary ruling said two transgender students and an employee must be allowed to use restrooms matching their gender identity at University of North Carolina campuses. By Jonathan Drew. SENT: 340 words.

IN BRIEF:

— POLICE OFFICER-SHOTS FIRED, from RALEIGH — Police in Raleigh, North Carolina, say a man is dead and a police officer has been wounded after shots were fired at the end of a foot-chase by officers responding to a call of a man with a gun. SENT: 120 words as The Latest.

— FACEBOOK CONFESSION, from FAYETTEVILLE — A Fayetteville man wanted on a murder charge in the shooting death of his daughter’s grandfather has apparently confessed to the slaying on Facebook while on the run from police. SENT: 100 words.

— DOUBLE HOMICIDE-FAYETTEVILLE, from FAYETTEVILLE — Fayetteville police are investigating after two people were shot and killed over the weekend outside an apartment complex in the city. SENT: 50 words.

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